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Sharon Ullman is doing something every politician ought to do. She has joined the growing ranks of local blogging politicos. But here’s where I part ways with the Ada County commissioner: She says she will post answers to reporters’ questions at her blog instead of consenting to interviews. This doesn’t square with Ullman’s commitment to open government. And it seems a lot like the stubbornly peevish Ullman I remember from her first time in elected employ/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: What do you think of a politician, like Commissioner Sharon Ullman, who will answer reporter’s questions on her new blog but not in face-to-face?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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moscow_minidoka on February 13 at 10:50 a.m.
HBO’s Godless John Adams - Umm, John Adams was a Deist. That’s well established. Why would the miniseries focus on his faith as a Deist? I didn’t find it thus “empty” - the series also did not dwell on John & Abigail’s sex life, although based on the fact that they had children, they MUST have had sex…
danofthecommunity on February 13 at 11:13 a.m.
Question: What do you think of a politician, like Commissioner Sharon Ullman, who will answer reporter’s questions on her new blog but not in face-to-face?
Talk to the blog.
OfCoffee on February 13 at 1:11 p.m.
John Adams was absolutely not a deist. He was a Christian in every sense of the word, had a very strong faith, and brought that faith and understanding of the Bible into his work as a Founding Father of this country.
moscow_minidoka on February 13 at 1:29 p.m.
OfCoffee - I made a mistake in memory - you’re right, he was a Unitarian, not a Deist. My point was simply that a biopic simply cannot show every aspect of a person - I doubt there was a concerted effort to cleanse God from the picture…
OfCoffee on February 13 at 2:07 p.m.
Moscow - I have read the book by Steven McCollough (sp?) twice. He includes many excerpts from Adams’ letters and journal. I am pretty sure he was a Congregationalist, not a Unitarian. Pretty straight-up Puritan belief system w/o some of the disciplinary procedures, though he and Thomas Jefferson did do some church-hopping while in Philidelphia.
JamesBond on February 13 at 2:11 p.m.
Good for Sharon. I have dealt with reporters for many years, and I grew sick and tired of their ability to publish certain quotes, censor others, and modify others into their own words in a way that most likely fits their personal political views of the overall story. If I was dealing with a reporter that was liberal, I got screwed, and vice versa. I saw the same thing happen to the other side over and over again. It works both ways. Reporters are not immune from their personal biases. Thus, I support Sharon’s decision. I also think Mr. Richert’s lamenting of it is yet another illustration of how Old Media is getting left behind.
Sisyphus on February 13 at 2:21 p.m.
Uh Bondo, go read Nathaniel Hoffman’s piece. Yzaquirre and Tilman certainly don’t share her lack of transparency.
Sisyphus on February 13 at 2:23 p.m.
http://www.adherents.com/people/pa/John_Adams.html
OfCoffee on February 13 at 2:54 p.m.
Sis- I followed your link and found it very informative. thanks for posting it. It made me do some more searching, since what I read in Adams’ biography didn’t jive with my understanding of Unitarian Universalist today. And in fact, a unitarian, or Unitarian, in Adams’ time is not the same thing as the Unitarian Universalist today. The definition of a conservative unitarian, including a strong belief in the Bible and the teachings of Christ, did jive with my understanding of Adams’ beliefs. I never saw a discussion of Adams’ thoughts on the Trinity.
Educational day.